One benefit of Kentucky workers’ compensation insurance is wage replacement payments while an injured employee is disabled and cannot work. Workers’ compensation pays about two-thirds of the injured employee’s average weekly wages, up to a maximum set by the Kentucky Department of Workers’ Claims. In other words, if you get hurt on the job in Kentucky, you can get paid even if you can’t work. This is thanks to workers’ insurance.
An individual who has been harmed due to the negligence of a party who is not their employer may seek compensatory damages to replace wages they have lost because of their injury. In such a personal injury claim, the plaintiff may recover 100% of provable lost wages.
Compensation for lost income is typically sought in a workers’ compensation claim or personal injury lawsuit. A Kentucky lost wages lawyer with Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer can help you document the missed income you are owed and file a claim on your behalf. Our mission is to bring the Kentucky Courage you need to pursue the full compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Contact us today to discuss your lost wages claim.
How Does Workers’ Comp Pay for Lost Wages in Kentucky?
Most employers in Kentucky must provide their full and part-time employees with workers’ compensation insurance coverage. Workers’ compensation is no-fault insurance that pays for medical care and provides wage replacement benefits to employees who become injured or ill while performing their jobs.
If you can’t work due to an injury, workers’ insurance pays you two-thirds of your usual weekly pay. But there’s a state limit on how much you can get.
The state’s minimum and maximum lost wages payment is adjusted yearly according to the average weekly wage across Kentucky. As of 2023, the maximum weekly benefit for total disability was $1,118.43. The minimum weekly indemnity benefit for calendar year 2023 was $203.35.
Wage replacement is a primary benefit of workers’ compensation. Payments end when the doctor treating the injured employee certifies that the employee has recovered enough to return to work. In some cases, an employee is cleared medically for light-duty work, and the wage replacement benefit pays the difference in what that work pays and the employee’s previous weekly wages.
Workers’ compensation also pays all of the employee’s medical bills associated with an occupational injury or illness, as well as other benefits for permanent disability or a worker’s death.
However, the state-administered workers’ compensation program is a complex bureaucracy. There are many opportunities for employers and their insurers to dispute valid claims and try to avoid providing the rightful benefits sought by an injured employee. During this stressful time, an experienced Kentucky workers’ compensation lawyer can help you and your family demand the benefits available by law.
How Do I Recover Lost Wages in a Personal Injury Claim?
Because employers must provide no-fault workers’ compensation insurance, an employee cannot sue their employer for negligence that led to the employee’s injury or illness.
However, if someone other than your employer acted negligently and caused your injury, you might seek to recover lost wages in a third-party liability claim. Such a claim might be pursued against a vendor on your job site, the property owner, the manufacturer of faulty machinery, or others, as long as they are not your employer or a fellow employee.
Independent contractors and other self-employed individuals who are not eligible for workers’ compensation might have a right to pursue a personal injury claim after being injured at a job site.
A successful third-party claim would be based on evidence that the defendant was negligent in some aspect of their activity on a job site and that negligence caused you to suffer an injury or illness.
In a third-party personal injury claim, we could demand compensation on your behalf for:
- Medical expenses
- Lost income from missed work
- Reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Disfigurement
- Emotional distress
- Loss of companionship or an intimate relationship with a spouse
- Punitive damages which are sometimes awarded to punish a negligent party for especially egregious misconduct.
A third-party personal injury claim could result in money paid to you that extends beyond workers’ compensation benefits. If a third party was responsible for your injury or illness, our legal team has the experience and resources to pursue the full payment you deserve. We work with a network of medical experts, investigators, and other experts to substantiate your claim and help you seek the maximum recovery available.
How To Calculate Lost Wages in Kentucky?
In workers’ compensation claims, once an eligible employee misses eight calendar days of work due to a work-related injury or illness, they are entitled to benefits for each additional day they cannot work. If the employee misses 15 calendar days of work, they receive benefits for the first seven days of missed work.
Your employer has records of the wages you are paid. You may have recent paycheck stubs or bank records of direct deposit payments that show what you are paid.
If you are an hourly worker, multiply your hourly rate (e.g., $15) by the number of hours you work in a day (7.5 or 8, typically), which is 37.5 or 40 hours per five-day week, respectively. At $15 an hour, that’s $600 a week for an 8-hour day or $562.50 a week for a 7.5-hour day.
If you are salaried, divide your annual wage by 52, the number of weeks in a year. An annual salary of $40,000 amounts to $769.23 per week. To determine an hourly wage, divide by 2,080 for a 40-hour week ($19.23) or 1,950 for a 37.5-hour week ($20.51).
Remember, workers’ compensation pays two-thirds of your average weekly wage, so you must multiply your weekly pay by 66.6% to calculate your workers’ comp benefit.
$769.23 multiplied by .666 = $512.31
$600 per week multiplied by .666 = $399.60
$562.50 per week multiplied by .666 = $374.63
A lost wages attorney at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer can help understand the amount of benefits available to you.
What Is Loss of Income and Lost Earning Capacity?
In a personal injury claim, in addition to demanding compensation for lost wages, we may be able to seek payment of future lost income and lost earning capacity.
Lost income encompasses more than weekly wages. In a personal injury claim, we would calculate other earnings you have not received because of your injury or illness. This would include the value of any fringe benefits not received, as well as bonuses, commissions, and other monetary awards that would have been available to you since your injury.
If a permanent injury prevents you from returning to your previous job or similar work, you may be eligible to seek compensation for a loss of future earning capacity. This calculation would be based on your current wages or salary, the number of years before you reach full retirement age and the expected additional income you would receive from
- Salary raises
- Promotions
- Bonuses
- Contributions to retirement funds
- Pensions
- Social Security retirement benefit increases
- The value of benefits over the years
To ensure that we demand full compensation for your lost income, our legal team would obtain your work and medical records and consult economic and financial planners to make the needed calculations. We would submit a demand letter explaining our calculations to the appropriate insurers. Our Kentucky Courage attorneys would be prepared to present a persuasive case in court on your behalf.
Get Help You Need from a Lost Wages Attorney in Kentucky
The Kentucky lost wages attorneys of Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer will do everything possible to help you recover lost income after a workplace injury in Lexington or elsewhere in Kentucky. We have been applying Kentucky Courage to hold insurance companies and at-fault parties accountable for many years. We’ll look at your case from every angle and be ready to pursue compensation for you through a workers’ compensation claim, a personal injury case, a Social Security Disability claim, or any combination of the three.
If you need legal help with an injury claim in the Lexington area, call us today or complete our online form to set up your free initial consultation.
